


Knightmare

by Creepycupcakes



Category: Horror - Fandom, Sanders Sides, Thomas Sanders
Genre: Horror, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-05-01 22:13:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 14,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14530350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Creepycupcakes/pseuds/Creepycupcakes
Summary: Nightmares were meant to be destroyed as soon as they appeared, Roman had never wanted to see what would happen if one accidentally escaped his room..but now, he would have to.





	1. The Prologue

This week had most definitely been a busy one, Between working on video’s and helping Thomas try to function like a normal human being, it had been surprisingly stressful. Whenever they started running through lines for a video, they would almost always get side-tracked. So when the end of the week finally came around, they all decided to have a movie night. Patton ended up making the snacks for it, Virgil and Logan both were tasked with setting up a comfy pile of blankets and pillows in the living room, and Roman was given the job of picking out the movie. Roman, for once in his life, actually managed to pick out a movie within the hour they had to get ready. (In his defense, all Disney movies were virtually equally great, so it really was no wonder that it took so long to find the perfect movie!)

Once all of their preparations were done, Patton brought in the popcorn, some cookies and some cocoa, setting it all down on the coffee table. Roman put the movie in before joining Logan and Virgil, who were already in the huge pile of pillows and blankets, on the couch. Patton joined them soon after he grabbed the remote to click play, snuggling close to the others.

Once the movie was over and the credits of The Fox And The Hound were rolling on screen and an empty bowl of popcorn sat on the table, they were all fairly tired. “Well! I think it’s time we all head off, okay kiddos? We do have work tomorrow after all!” Patton grinned happily, though sleepiness definitely started to show in his eyes. “Yeah, I can get behind that, night Dad.” Virgil nodded with a small nod and a yawn, standing up and heading upstairs to his room. Meanwhile, Roman was sitting on the couch, completely lost in thought. “Roman? Kiddo! Are you going to head upstairs?” Patton was talking to him. He nodded and quickly smiled, “Of course Padre!”

Everything looked like it should be peaceful, and they had had a hard day, so why couldn’t he relax? He stood up, and brushed off his clothes, “good night!” He waved before he headed upstairs to his room, hearing both Patton and Logan follow up after him after a few moments. Once he got upstairs, he went directly to his room. Maybe something was wrong with the portal to his realm.

However, once he reached his door, he froze. The door was open. Something had gotten out. He immediately rushed inside, panicking. What if a fairy had gotten out of his realm again? Or even worse, a changeling! The last time that had happened that had been hell to deal with, and not to mention how dangerous it had been. He had ended up having all of the others wear tracking devices so he could tell the difference between them. But in the end he had managed to herd them all back into his realm, it took a few hours, but luckily no one had gotten hurt.

He headed inside his room, which he noted was strangely dimmer than usual. His frown deepened, and his eyes showed his concern, he knew this could still mean that something had escaped his realm, but he knew that this had a different meaning too. And that this could be much more dangerous than he previously thought. He made sure to shut the door behind him, just in case there were multiple creatures and some of them were still hiding in the room. Next, once he was sure that the door was closed, he headed to the portal to his realm.

The portal to his realm was masked as a mirror, hanging on the wall next to his closet. He checked it over, making sure to keep an eye out for any possible cracks, and checking to see if the mirror had clouded over. Neither of those had happened. Most of the time, he would be relieved when nothing managed to escape. But now, now he was absolutely terrified. The mirror wasn’t broken, the room was dimmer and less cheery, and he was on edge…that could only mean one thing. A nightmare had escaped.


	2. The Beginning

The nightmare had escaped.

The thought echoed through Roman’s head as his eyes flew wide in realization and terror. This was bad. Very very bad. He had to get the others, and fast. He quickly grabbed his swords and started to head down the hall to get the others. At least he knew where that they were in their bedrooms. Well, that was both good and bad. After all, if they were in their bedrooms than the nightmare could trap them inside their rooms. He wasted no time when it came to darting into the room closest to his.

When his door banged open, Patton jumped a bit. It was pretty scary to have a scared Roman dart into your room, especially when his sword was out and at the ready. “Roman! Are you okay? What’s going on?” The fatherly trait sat up, still a bit groggy as he grabbed his glasses and put them on, “Patton! Something’s gone terribly wrong! We need to get the others and we all need to get to a safe place and fast!”

“What? Okay,” he nodded, still clearly confused as he climbed out of bed. Roman quickly grabbed his hand and dragged the tired trait out of his room, heading down towards Logan’s room only to freeze up right outside the door. Just down the hall, a black mist was drifting into the vent. “Roman….” Patton murmured, his eyes trained on the mist as it disappeared. “What…what is that?” He asked, panic starting to creep into his own voice. “That’s why I was panicking,” Roman said, still clearly freaking out. “I’ll explain it better once we know they’re safe. Now come on!” He moved quickly to Logan’s room,

The logical trait, luckily, wasn’t completely asleep yet. So when the others burst into his room, he just sat up and shot them a glare as he reached for his glasses, slipping them on. “What’s so important that you two decided you should barge into my room like this?” He questioned with a stern voice and a raised eyebrow. “This better not be one of your antics, Roman.” The princely trait had to hold back from rolling his eyes at Logan’s tone. There was no time for that. “Logan! We’re in danger! We need to all get to a safe place. NOW.” He stated seriously, watching as Logan’s face changed from annoyance to concern as he slipped out of bed and moved over. “What do you mean?” He asked, eyebrows furrowed. “Did something escape from your realm again?!”

“No! Well, not really! But that’s besides the point! We need to get Virgil!” He huffed, still stressed out from the whole thing before it hit him. Virgil was anxiety, and had anxiety. Anxiety was mainly considered to be a negative emotion…and boy, did nightmares love those. “Shit!” He swore, not waiting for the others as he darted out of the room and down the hall to the last room. Virgil’s room.

He headed inside, stopping when he saw the sight of the anxious trait. Virgil was sprawled out on his bed, chest heaving. Yet other than that movement, he did not move. And his eyes…Roman recognized that almost automatically. They were wide open, and he could tell they were full of fear…but, they were glazed over. They were completely unseeing of the world around him. He was trapped in an illusion. Roman had been too late to grab him. He should have just sent Patton to Logan’s room and came here first! But no, he just had to try to stay with them, didn’t he!? Roman shook those thoughts away as fast as they came, trying to shove them back. He couldn’t afford to worry about that now. He needed to save Virgil.

He moved to his side as the darker traits fingers dug into the blankets. He heard Logan and Patton enter behind him and knew they must have frozen up just like he had since their footsteps stopped as soon as they entered the room. “Roman! What’s going on?” Patton asked, clearly scared as he moved to go cling to Logan, who, for once, wrapped an arm around his waist in return. “A nightmare.” Roman stated, frowning as he moved to gently shake Virgil’s shoulder. “It escaped from my room today when we were relaxing. I should have came here first!” He groaned, blaming himself. After all, there was no one else to blame, he was the one who left the door unlocked.

He mentally slapped himself before setting to work to try to get Virgil out of the trance-like state he was in. Shaking his shoulder, pinching him, waving his hand in front of his face. However, none of them worked. At one point he had even had Patton grab an ice cube to put on him. But none of it worked. “Damn..” He muttered, just giving up on what he was doing and moving to hold his hand.

“Roman! What are you doing? You need to wake him up! Please!” Patton begged, eyes watering with tears of worry for his dark strange son. “We can’t get him out of it,” Roman spoke, “We have to wait until it comes out on its own accord…I’d hate to see what he’s going through.” He watched as Patton started to cry, and even Logan looked worried. “How long do you think this will last?” The logical man asked, voice wavering and exposing his worry for Virgil.

“It depends on how strong it is. It could be minutes, could be hours…could..could be days. I’m going to stay with him. And you guys should stay close too. But we need to get him out of here to the commons to keep an eye on him.” He explained, giving Virgil’s cold hand a squeeze before he stood up and picked him up along with him, starting to head downstairs and doing his best to ignore the worried thoughts that flew around his skull. He set the darker trait down on the couch and sat down next to him. The only left to do, was hope that it would give up soon.


	3. Frustration

Roman had ended up staying awake by Virgil’s side throughout the night, keeping a sharp eye on him to try to ensure that he would be okay. Logan and Patton eventually did pass out around three in the morning or so, and Roman couldn’t blame them. After all, they had all been having a stressful night. Hell, Roman knew he should be sleeping too. But he couldn’t let himself. After all, this was all his fault. If he had kept a closer eye on the nightmare and had destroyed it before it had gotten out, then maybe…no, then he would have definitely been able to stop it from attacking Virgil. He could only imagine what he was going through. He ran a hand through his hair and just listened to the ticking of the clock in the otherwise silent and dark room.

It was almost dawn when it happened. He noticed the slight trembling first, Virgil was shaking like a leaf. The princely trait knew exactly what was going on. Virgil was starting to gain control of his own body again. Roman wanted to help him so much that his heart hurt, but he knew he couldn’t do anything. All he could do was wait until it finally left the poor man alone. It physically pained him to watch Virgil’s fight to gain control over his own body. God, if he had actually thought about the nightmare, or at least had managed to get it away from the other trait, this wouldn’t have happened.

The trembling lasted for a few minutes before it suddenly just stopped all together. Roman frowned and watched him even closer than before. He needed to make sure that Virgil would be okay. He knew that they didn’t get along most the time, but he did consider him his friend. No… Virgil was family. Roman always tried to protect his family, and this time he had failed. Suddenly, Virgil’s body lurched upward, eyes going wide as he let out a blood curdling screech that was loud enough to wake the dead.

Patton and Logan woke up at that, moving a bit nearer to the other trait as fast as they could. Though they did make sure not to get too close even if Patton wanted with all his heart to go right over to his dark strange sons side. They didn’t want to overcrowd him with Roman already there. Virgil was crying, tears sliding down his cheeks as he pulled his legs up to his chest, breathing heavy and trying to press himself into the couch and away from the others.

Roman had jumped back when Virgil had screamed, through he had quickly moved back to his original position, he needed to do whatever he could to try to help him. And right now that meant calming him down. “It’s okay Virge…it’s okay.” He said softly, slowly moving his hands up to show that he meant Virgil no harm. He continued those soft, comforting words until Virgil had calmed down a bit, muscles relaxing ever so slightly. “What….what was that?” He asked softly, voice sounding hoarse and scared. ‘It was a nightmare, Virgil.” Logan explained, even his voice had ended up softening. He didn’t want Virgil to panic again after all. (Patton had been teaching him to learn how to help Virgil when he had an anxiety attack). “A nightmare..? The hell do you mean by a nightmare!? I’ve had nightmares before, that was NOT a fucking nightmare!” Virgil was lashing out a bit, he knew that. But he really didn’t know how else to react to this. He was terrified, confused and…well, he was pissed that that happened. Though a part of him was glad that it was just him and not one of the others.

“No Virgil, you don’t understand… It wasn’t a normal nightmare-” “No fucking shit!” Virgil interrupted Roman’s explanation. Roman simply sighed instead of getting upset at him like he normally would. “I know Virgil. A nightmare is a creature from my realm. They form to try to affect Thomas. Most the time I’m able to try to destroy them or at least keep them in there so they can’t hurt anyone. But this one got out and I have no idea where it is now.”

“Why am I not surprised that you ended up letting it out?” Virgil asked, he didn’t really want to argue with Roman or to even get mad at him right now, but he couldn’t help it. “I didn’t-” Roman began, only to get cut off by Virgil “Did you leave the door unlocked? And did you leave it unsupervised? If so, then YOU'RE the one who let it out!” He watched as Roman cringed back from the sharp words. “…You're right.” The normally confident trait said softly. “It is my fault…If I had just-just kept an eye on it…then this would have never happened. I’m so sorry..” He murmured, tears starting to prick at his eyes.

And almost at once that burn of anger in Virgil’s chest melted away. He had caused Roman to cry. God he was such a dumbass sometimes. “Roman I..” His voice trailed off as he saw the other trait just silently turned on his heels and headed upstairs. He must have not heard him…though once thing was sure, Virgil had messed up.


	4. Trouble

Roman most definitely hadn’t wanted to leave them all alone down there. But he just had to get away from them to think things over and to be able to calm down to think rationally. He needed to be able to find a way to try to save them all from this mess that he had caused. He didn’t want anyone else to end up getting hurt, though he knew it was very unlikely he would be able to catch the hellish beast without it trying to get into anyone elses heads. And who knows how strong it had gotten since it had managed to feed on Virgil’s dreams for so long.  
He could only hope that it would have satisfied its hunger just enough to give him some time. He sat down on his bed and ran a hand through his hair as the tears started to slide down his face at a faster rate. Dammit. Virgil was right. This was all his fault. He had been so foolish to let the creature escape, hell, maybe he shouldn’t have gotten them all together first. Or at least went directly to Virgil. Maybe then he would have been able to slay the beast before it had been able to get ahold of the darker trait. He should have known that Virgil would have been a priority target with his anxiety.  
Roman groaned softly, running a hand through his hair. He was so tired of all this already. All he wanted to do was curl up, forget any of this ever happened and sleep. But sleep wasn’t an option right now. He needed to stay awake. He needed to save them. He knew that wasn’t healthy at all, but what was more important? His health? Or the livelihood and well-being of his friends?  
To Roman, that question was simply too easy to answer. He need to focus all his energy into helping them get through this whole ordeal and into getting rid of that foul being that seemed so intent on hurting them all. He tried to get the tears to stop so he could finally try to come up with something that was actually useful, but failed. What was up with him? Normally he was actually able to force himself to stop, or in the very least put on a happy mask to be able to help everyone, but today he just couldn’t.  
Perhaps it was how he had bottled up his emotions for so long, or perhaps it was the lack of sleep. Actually, the princely trait knew exactly why. It was most probably both of them. But that was a problem he refused to admit to, not now not ever. It did however, seem that he just needed to wait this one out. He needed to be able to just let go for the time being, but he promised himself that the moment these tears stopped he would go and check on the others, even if he didn’t really have a plan.  
It seemed that someone decided to thwart what he had been going to do, as only a few moments later he heard a knock on his door. He turned to glance over at the one barrier that was blocking one of his friends from seeing him in this state, and prayed to god that they wouldn’t open it. That they would just walk away and leave him alone. Roman would have opened it without a second thought if it seemed like there was an emergency, but he could tell from the hesitant way that they knocked that they were okay. He simply sat in the silence of the normally cheerful room. The person behind the door seemed not to wait for permission to enter, as after a minute of that crushing silence, the door slowly opened.  
Virgil cautiously poked his head into the room. “Roman…? Are you okay?” He asked him softly, looking upset at what had happened earlier. “Listen, I’m sorry about what happened, I shouldn’t have just snapped at you like that… I was scared.” The emo man tried to find a way to explain his actions verbally, he really was far from the best from voicing his thoughts and that was apparent from that awkward yet remorseful tone in his voice.  
“It’s fine..” Roman murmured softly, eyes flicking down to look at the pattern on his covers rather than the other traits face. Virgil merely sighed and moved to sit down next to him, placing an ever so gentle hand onto his back just in case Roman wanted to move away. “It’s really not,” Virgil began, “I really shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. This is all….this is all just one horrible mistake. It’s not like you were the one who pulled that illusion shit on me. And you definitely didn’t let that thing out on purpose.”  
“Yeah…Yeah I didn’t.” Romans voice was soft, though it still was tainted with guilt. “But it still happened, and I should have been there to stop it. I could have stopped it from hurting you..Oh god, Virgil, I’m so sorry…” He seemed not to mind Virgil touching him right now, so he started to rub his back. “It’s fine okay? Let’s just try to find that nightmare thing so you can get rid of it.” Roman just managed to get out a half smile over to him when it happened. A screech echoed through the halls of the mindscape, so loud and so filled with pain that it chilled Roman to the core. And it came from Patton’s room.


	5. Death of A Friend

Roman’s head snapped up when he heard the scream, face paling. “Did Patton come upstairs after you!?” He asked Virgil quickly, needing to try to rule out if this was a trap before he ran off. No matter how much he wanted to, he needed to make sure. “Yeah.. Yeah he did. He needed to get something.. Roman is he okay!?” Virgil’s voice was shaky with panic, eyes wide.  
“I don’t know… Virgil, go to Logan and stay there okay?” He asked, thought the question came out more like an order. Vigil just hardly managed a shaky nod and started out the door, only to pause and look back to Roman, a frown still in place. “Will… Will you make sure he’s okay?” He asked him, Roman simply nodded. “Of course I will, Virgil. I promise.” And with that, Virgil disappeared out of his room. Once he was gone, Roman didn’t waste any time in getting to Patton’s room, darting out of his own and down the hall to Patton’s.  
The closer and closer he got to Patton’s room, the colder and colder the temperature became. He only slowed down once he was outside the door. The normally brave trait was afraid to even step a foot inside the door. But he had to. He had to help him. He kept his hand on the hilt of his sword, slowly drawing it. He needed to have it on him, he needed to slay the beast. The second he opened the door a blast of ice cold wind slammed into his face, carrying along with it, the smell of dust, sulfur and the most overbearing scent of roses. God, it was like all of his sense were slapped in the face. He shook his head and stepped inside the room. He didn’t know exactly what he had been expecting, but he most certainly hadn’t expected this.  
The normally bright, cheerful room was covered in shadows and dust was covering the furniture. But then there was Patton, suspended in the air by the shadows with a look of pure horror on his features and his breathing was sporadic, a shadowy tendril removed itself from the wall to slowly wrap itself around its neck.  
“Patton!” Roman cried, trying to run forward to slash him free of that horrid beasts grip, only to find he couldn’t move. The trait looked down to his feet to see two black wisps of smoke gripping his legs. “Let GO!” He yelled, trying ever so desperately to free himself from the grip and even trying to use his sword, to get out of their grasp. Unfortunately, it seemed determined as to not let him go. Another tendril emerged from one of the shadows on the wall and knocked his sword from his grip and quickly moved to restrain his arms with its icy cold smoke.  
He tried to scream again, only to be silenced by the nightmare. The hell was this thing doing!? He struggled against his bounds, only for it to tighten its grip, it even moved to force him to keep his eyes on Patton. That was when it started to pull and tighten itself around the fatherly trait, and all Roman could do was watch as Patton screamed and struggled. “No no no NO!” He cried, feeling tears start to slide down his face as he was forced to watch his friend go through so much.  
The beast only stopped after a few minutes, and a part of Roman was hoping and praying that it was finally over, but he knew it wasn’t. This monster wouldn’t stop here. Patton was shaking, crying, begging for Roman to help him. Oh god, he needed to help him! He needed to save him! He couldn’t just let him suffer! But he couldn’t move, his eyes were wide and glazed over with fear as the nightmare moved to Patton’s rib cage, it was like it was gripping onto it… Roman’s gaze immediately changed to one of horror as he realized what exactly it was trying to do. He wanted to look away, and yet it wouldn’t let him.  
The nightmare started to pull at Patton’s rib cage, never enough to kill. Only enough to harm him. And every single time Roman would flinch at Patton’s screams. He couldn’t handle this. Why the hell was it doing this to Patton!? He was the one who the nightmare should be mad at! The nightmare continued this torturous movement for a few minutes, that seemed like an eternity before it finally did it. It tore Patton in two. And it made Roman watch all the while.


	6. Waking Up

Roman stared as his friend was ripped apart right in front of him. He watched as the others blood stained the carpet floor and as the others organs partially fell out with quite possibly the sickest sound Roman had ever heard. Roman’s face was frozen in horror, tinted a sickly green as a wave of nausea came over him and he vomited onto the floor. The whole thing…this whole thing, it couldn’t be real. It just couldn’t. Even after he had vomited he still felt sick to his stomach. The corpses unseeing eyes were still trained on him, Patton’s face still seemed frozen in pure terror, still begging for Roman to save him.  
He could feel the tendrils start to release him as the monster retreated once again into the ventilation system. The princely trait fell forward, unable to hold himself up on his own legs and landed in the foul smelling puddle of vomit. The entire time his eyes was locked onto the two bloody forms that was once Patton. He didn’t know how long he had been there for, but he did know that his vision kept getting foggy and the room just seemed to be getting darker and darker until finally his eyes slipped close and he fell into unconsciousness.  
Eventually, he felt someone pulling his form off of the ground. He wanted to wake up, to tell them what happened and to cry. To tell them that Patton was dead, and it was all his fault. He had been too late to do anything to save him. He felt the arms around him set him down on a soft item. What were they doing?! Did they not see Patton’s corpse? Did they not see the blood that had covered the floor and part of the wall like some morbid form of paint? Despite all of this he still found that he could not force his eyes to open.  
He was able to move his hands first. He wouldn’t have noticed that he was able to until he found that he had curled them into the fabric beneath him. Next was his legs, then finally, finally he was able to open his eyes. He could feel tears start to swell up in his eyes again as he stared at the blurry ceiling. “Roman…?” A voice. Logan’s voice. He shot up, immediately trying to push himself back into the corner of what he now recognized as the couch. “L-Logan..” He murmured, staring at the other.  
He could still smell the vomit from what had happened earlier, and another wave of nausea hit him like a brick. But even that was not as hard as the realization that Patton was dead. He had to be, after all, he had seen it happen with his own eyes. That was enough to break the floodgates. The tears started to fall as that feeling of despair started to crush him. As well as anger. “Why are you here!?” He asked him, watching as the look on Logan’s face changed to one of concern. “What? Roman what are you talking about?” He asked, which if anything, made Roman angrier. He tried to stand only to find that he couldn’t. His legs still weren’t completely functioning yet. And Logan simply tried to guide him to sit back down  
Roman smacked his hand away. “Don’t touch me! Why aren’t you with Patton!? You need to be with him! Not with me! You should be mad at me! You should be upset!” He gripped at the sides of his head. Oh god, he felt sick to his stomach, he was going to throw up again wasn’t he? “Roman…what are you talking about? Patton’s upstairs cleaning up the vomit.. Are you alright?” Logan spoke, stepping back once Roman pushed him away. “What do you mean..? He.. He’s alive?” The trait seemed to calm down after Logan had told him that he was just upstairs, he had seen Patton die with his own eyes!  
Logan could see he wasn’t thinking clearly and was clearly upset and confused. “Yes Roman… Patton’s alive. It’s okay. You don’t need to worry.” He spoke softly, making no move to touch him in fear of making it worse. Roman rubbed at the tears and shook his head. “No… No, I saw him die! I saw it!” He insisted, still gripping at the sides of his head. Logan didn’t quite get how Roman couldn’t take his word for it, and why he couldn’t calm down. But he did realize one thing. Roman had been through an illusion of his own.


	7. Recovery

“It’s okay, Roman. He’s right upstairs,” Logan was still trying to comfort him. It wasn’t very often that the princely trait got this panicked, and it was proving to be quite the challenge to help him calm down. Especially when he was far from the best at providing comfort in the first place. He definitely needed Patton, perhaps that would help. “Patton!” He called upstairs, “I need you!” He did have an edge of urgency in his tone. With all this going on, they all needed to stay as level headed as possible, especially Roman since he seemed to know the most about this. “Yeah?” Patton asked, coming downstairs as fast as he could to stand next to Logan, only for Roman to latch onto him, hugging him close and crying. “W-what’s going on?”  
“I-I… I thought you were…. I saw you get ripped in half..” Roman said, shaking as Patton pulled him close to his chest. “Oh kiddo…its alright see? I’m right here. It was just an illusion..” Patton tried to comfort him, though even Logan could see that scared look flash into the fatherly traits eyes for a moment. After all, if this nightmare thing could affect Roman this badly, and without him noticing when even he knew the signs…well, that just spelled out trouble in all capital letters. It could attack any one of them at any time. And who knows what would happen once it got too strong!  
Roman didn’t respond, he was completely gone and trying just to be able to get some control again. “… Do you know where Virgil is, Patton?” Logan asked, looking over to him. “Yeah, he was upstairs helping me clean the carpet. He’s gonna come back downstairs soon… When he does, and Roman’s feeling better we should probably have a talk to try to figure out what exactly happened to Roman…maybe then we can try to get the signs down and try to do something so this won’t happen again.” Patton was being uncharacteristically serious, but Logan couldn’t blame him. After all, it was clear that they were all in danger.  
Logan nodded, “Yes, I think that sounds good…” he agreed, moving to sit down, Patton following his lead. The second he was on the couch, Roman was curled up into his side. It was clear he was starting to calm down, but he was definitely still shaken up. He had managed to stop crying, but was still shaking pretty badly. Eventually, Virgil headed back downstairs, only to pause when he saw the group huddled up on the couch.  
He moved over to them, “is everything okay…?” He asked, Roman just barely shifting around so he could look over to him and shaking his head. “No…” He muttered while Patton rubbed his back, trying to relax fully. “Roman’s going to be okay, he’s just….really shaken up.” The anxious trait nodded in understanding, moving to sit on the arm of the couch with his legs curled up to his chest as the four fell into an awkward silence, letting Roman take his time to try to be able to get back to his normal self.  
After a while, Patton checked in with him. “Are you doing alright now, kiddo?” he asked, taking care to keep his voice low. “Yeah… Yeah I’m okay now I think.” He nodded and moved to sit up, wiping the rest of his tears away. “Do you think you would be alright if we talked to you about what happened? Patton and I thought that if we can figure out what happened, then we might be able to figure out a way to ensure that this will not happen again.”  
He nodded, “I think I can do that, and yeah, that might help. I mean, even I don’t know that much about them. I just make sure that they don’t affect Thomas much, if at all. I don’t learn about them.” his voice was quieter than normal, so much so that the others had to be careful they heard everything. “Alright then… Do you know when the illusion started?” Logan fidgeted with his tie. He was nervous, even Roman could tell that. “No…but are you alright Logan?”  
“Yes, I’m absolutely fine Roman. I’m just…well, a bit uncomfortable. This whole thing is absolutely illogical. I know that in a way it makes sense to be illogical, especially because it came from Roman’s room. Everything in there lacks it.” He tried to explain, opening his mouth to speak again when a book flew across the room to try to smack him straight in the face. Luckily, Logan had made an attempt to stop it which at least slowed it down. “What the fuck was that about?!” Virgil stated, having flinched back when he saw the book flying at them. Patton for once didn’t tell Virgil to put a dollar in the swear jar and turned to glance over at Roman. “I know you said that you didn’t know much about the nightmare’s and all that kiddo, but uh…was that it?”  
“I don’t know… I’ve never heard of them moving objects before. But being exposed to this much fear must be making it stronger….and if that was it, and it’s really gotten this strong this fast..” Roman took a deep breath, “then there may be a chance we can’t stop it.”


	8. Gaining Power

“DUCK!” Virgil yelled, dropping his head down into his hands, only a moment before Patton did to avoid getting hit in the head with a fairly heavy looking display case that Logan had set up only a mere few days before for some of his books. “We need to get out of here, now!” Roman said, and while he didn’t wait for their response before he grabbed Virgil and Logan’s hands, he was sure that they agreed. This chaos was too freaky to be around much longer. Patton grabbed onto Logan’s hand and together they all ran up the stairs, ending up in Roman’s room.  
The princes room was darker than they had expected, but they knew there was no way it could be another illusion right? After all, even if it was strong enough to start tossing things around, it couldn’t be strong enough to force them all into its trap yet…well, that was what Logan thought. And it seemed to be reinforced by Roman’s attitude, he seemed oddly calmer here, as if he knew it would be like this. “We should be safe in here,” he said, “This place has a seal so long as the door is closed, nothing from my realm of the mindspace can get in or out.”  
“R-right….” Virgil nodded slightly, taking a few deep breaths to ensure that he stayed calm before he looked around the room. The lights were off, yet you could still see. Roman’s room was fairly well decorated, which was what he had expected, and even rather messy. Especially his desk, it was covered in countless papers, some still flat some crumpled, his bed wasn’t made either. But besides the desk and the bed, it looked like some of the furniture hadn’t been touched in years, there were three gold filing cabinets in the corner that was covered with dust and very clearly had been damaged, and while there was one mirror on the wall visible, there did seem to be another one, yet that one was covered. “Princey…does your room always look like this?” Virgil asked, looking back over to the other trait,  
“Hm? Oh yes, I suppose it is a bit of a mess currently. But that’s really not important right now. We really need to focus on figuring out better ways to prevent the nightmare from tricking us,” he nodded and moved to sit on his bed, offering the others a place to sit. Virgil ended up sitting on the floor, Logan leaning against the wall and Patton sat down next to him. It really was needless to say that Virgil could tell he was hiding something here, and he was pretty sure Patton could tell too. But he decided not to bring it up for the time being. Roman was pretty much right after all, they needed to figure out how to stop this.   
“Yes, I suppose you are right, Roman…perhaps we should start with making a list of what we all know about the nightmare? And then after that you can tell us what exactly happened to you when you were in your room, then Virgil could tell us about his experience with it as well. We need to gather as much information as possible after all.” That was a very good idea, “that sounds good! Wait…kiddos? Would you both be able to tell us what you guys went through? I want to make sure that it won’t bother you both that much,” Patton looked over to Virgil, then to Roman, his concern was evident by his expression. “I’ll be fine, Padre,” Roman spoke up first. “While it was…fairly terrifying, I’m sure I will be able to recall it!”  
“I..don’t know really.. But I can try to explain it if it’ll help.” Virgil said, a bit of nervousness was in his tone, fidgeting with one of his hoodie sleeves. “You don’t have to speak up about it if you don’t think you can do it, it’s okay,” Patton moved to stand and put a gentle hand on his shoulder, Roman simply watched as Virgil looked up, a grateful glint in his eyes and nodded. “Alright, thanks…”  
“Right…well, I guess we better get started on that list,” Roman snapped his fingers to summon a pencil and a pad of paper to start writing. “What do you currently know about it, Roman?” The princely trait was tapping his pencil on the paper, “Not much, unfortunately. As I said before, I never really bothered to learn about them, I just eliminated them before they could affect Thomas. Though, I was never much good at that… Sometimes I had to just let it run its course, since they used to only affect Thomas, they never could gain that much power and within the matter of an hour they would end up fading away.”  
“Is that really all you know..? Is there anything that differentiates this one from the rest? Why did this one manage to latch onto us rather than infect Thomas’s dreams?” Logan frowned as he spoke, he was worried about all of this and was doing his best not to show it, yet he supposed his questions did reveal it. Roman shook his head. “I-I don’t know… There was something strange about its coloration though… Nightmares are typically a dark gray, but this one is black,” he said, feeling just a bit pressured by Logan’s questions yet understanding that he was just as scared as the rest of them, and wrote down the color onto the paper. “So it’s a different color..? Is there anything else different about it?”   
“Not really…this one did have a strange smell though,” he shrugged, “Back before I managed to fall into its trap I thought I smelled it but I wasn’t sure…” Virgil nodded, “when I was trying to sleep and it got me, I smelled roses, was that it?” He questioned as Roman nodded, “Exactly! I suppose I wasn’t sure becau-” He was cut off by something slamming against the door. The four jumped and Roman instinctively pulled out his sword as the door started to shake, the doorknob twisting left and right, and the smell of roses started to get stronger and stronger in the room. It was trying to get in.


	9. Exhaustion

The nightmare was trying to break in, and they were all frozen in place, much akin to sitting ducks. It was Virgil who snapped out of his terrorized trance first, lunging forward to try to block the door, desperately trying to keep it out. Logan and Roman followed his lead next, bracing both of themselves against the door. It seemed like Patton wouldn’t come out of his place on the floor any time soon, blankly staring at the others, eyes wide with fear. “Patton! I get that you’re scared, but you need to help too!” Virgil looked over to him as he spoke, watching as recognition flashed in the fatherly traits eyes and he moved over to help.  
The banging on the door just got harder and harder, and the doorknob twisting was starting to get violent. Then, all of a sudden, it stopped. They all held their ground for another solid minute. “I… I think it’s gone for now..” Logan murmured, a wary tone in his voice as he stepped away, eyeing the door. “I think your right…” Roman nodded, letting his arms drop back to his sides and watched the others move to join them. “Well that was…stressful.” Roman definitely agreed with that statement. “Definitely,” he moved to just sit on the floor, leaning back against the wall. “These is one thing that confused me though…why didn’t it just go through the vent? Nightmares are virtually just a really thick smoke when it comes down to it.  
“Then why exactly did it do that? Is it possible it was just trying to scare us then?” Logan frowned, moving to sit on the bed, Virgil moving to sit next to him. “Probably… God, Roman, you said when it could throw a book that it was powerful. If that was powerful back there, then it must have got stronger since then, that was on an entire level… With all four of us blocking the door it still almost got in… I don’t want to think about what would have happened if it had.”  
“Yes…that is true. I understand that it may have gotten stronger due to the book incident, but I don’t see how exactly it had gotten this strong in such a short period of time… I don’t know. I don’t know how it could have gotten stronger, or how much more power it could have gained to cast out its illusions anymore, especially because of what just happened… I need to know these things, but I don’t.. I’m so sorry, I wish I could actually help more.” He ran his hands through his hair, he had been stressing out about those things so much since thing started. Hell, he was always afraid of letting them all down. He had always thought that he would have been able to deal with that on his own if he just kept trying to produce new ideas to keep himself busy. But he couldn’t just keep that to himself now, could he? He couldn’t just burden them with all his insecurities though, but surely he could unload a little right? What harm could that do?  
He was pulled out of these thoughts by a gentle hand being placed on his shoulder. “It’s alright kiddo, sure, this is all…all really scary, but you’re still trying to help protect us! You’ve been doing so much… You’ve been great.” he looked up to Patton, who was smiling slightly down at him.”.. Thank you, Patton. I just wish I could be doing more I suppose. No, I need to be doing more” He shook his head, “Maybe you should try to get some rest, Roman, It is getting late after all, and you’ve been under a lot of stress. It would make sense for you to get some sleep, we can all take shifts keeping watch.” Logan suggested, “I could take first shift, then Patton, then Virgil, then you.”  
“What? You don’t have to do that, I could take an earlier shift! Or at least give me the longest one, trash can panda over there doesn’t get enough sleep as it is!” Roman insisted, frowning slightly and doing his best to hold his ground, even if what Logan said was true. He was stressed. And tired too, all he really wanted to do was forget everything that had happened, even if it was just for a little while. “Yeah no. This is still mostly eyeshadow Princey. Maybe we can give you a little bit more, like three minutes, I know I can’t speak for the others but I’m pretty sure that’s all we’re going to give you. We’ve all been through a lot, we’re all scared and we’re all stressed, but you…well, you dealt with enough shit today. You need to get some sleep. Worse comes to worse I’m pretty sure Patton would be willing to hold you in place until you fall asleep. Either way you’re still getting last shift.”  
“… Fine” He sighed, Roman could tell by the determination in their eyes that they weren’t going to back down any time soon. And he was so tired. He just didn’t have the energy to fight with them. He moved to get up onto the bed, still managing to grumble about how Logan would need to wake him up if anything happened, and that the same went for the others too. He could hear Patton’s chuckle as he laid down, the others moving to join him as Logan moved to sit where Roman was nearly a moment before to keep watch for the night.


	10. Gone

Roman didn’t know how long exactly he was out, but by the time he had woken up the room had darkened and Logan was still keeping watch. He moved to sit up only to be partially stopped by the realization that Patton’s arm was thrown around his waist. “Uh… Hey Logan,” He moved to rub his eyes, taking care not to wake up the others who were asleep around him.

Logan didn’t miss a beat, looking over to the princely trait. “Hello, Roman. You should still be sleeping. It’s only been three hours.” He told him, arms crossed over his chest. “That may be so but three hours is enough for me to take over for now. You had a long day too, so try to get some rest. And don’t you dare try to get me to go back to bed, Specs. I got you covered and I’m not taking no for an answer!”

Logan blinked when Roman spoke, thinking for a moment. He wanted to argue but there was something about that glint in Roman’s eyes that made him think that there was no point in it. “I… Fine. But you must wake Patton up for his shift in an hour and a half alright? You shouldn’t be up for long. Neither should Virgil. Both of your stress levels must still be high from today’s…activities.”

He rolled his eyes, “Honestly Logan. I’m fine. At least give me two hours alright? That’s all I’m asking,” Roman very clearly wasn’t going to give up on the matter, not willing to even give up an inch of ground. He was fine! Logan shouldn’t be trying to baby him! “.. I suppose I can give you that much. But that's it, do you understand? Too much stress is bad for the body, and as such we need to keep all levels of it to a minimum.” Logan said, moving over to the bed to lay down.

Roman weaseled away from Patton’s grip, watching as Patton wasted no time in latching onto Logan when he laid down, much akin to a little koala. Roman was sure even Logan had to think that that was adorable. After all, their father figure was always pretty cute. He smiled fondly at the group that was crammed onto the bed before moving over to where Logan had sat by the door, sitting cross legged and finding himself leaning against the door.

Despite what he had promised Logan, he found himself trying to stay up later. After all, he really doubted that he would fall back asleep again. So he pushed himself to his limits before he moved to stand. He quietly woke up Patton and murmured that it was his shift, watching him nod, putting on his glasses and moving over to the door before sitting down. Once the father figure was seated, Roman moved to lay down on the bed, closing his eyes and simply trying his best to get some nice, proper rest for the remainder of the night.

He was woken up by the sound of something crashing. Jerking awake and looking around the bedroom. He groaned at the sunlight hitting his eyes and shifted around a bit to try to get it out of his face. That was when he saw it. His room was an absolute mess, his filing cabinet had been knocked over, the curtains pulled down and the spot were Patton had been, was empty.


	11. The Search Begins

Panic surged through the princely trait when he took in the sight before him, quickly moving to wake the other sleeping traits beside him. “Guys! GUYS!” He practically was screaming at the two, that panicked edge ever present in his tone as Virgil jerked awake, eyes wide with surprise and fear, Logan following suit. “What is it!? What's going on!?”

Roman almost sighed in relief. Despite his panic he was glad he was able to wake them. If he hadn’t been able to then he may have been trapped in another nightmare. “What do you think is going on, Logan! Look around you! Patton’s gone!” He snapped, running his hands through his hair as he moved to stand up, grabbing his sword. “I need to find him! You two stay here, got it?!”  
“Patton’s..gone? Then we need to get him back! And Like hell we’re letting you go alone Princey! If you go alone then you may walk right into a trap! I’m going with you.” Virgil said quickly, eyes filled with shock and determination as he moved to get off of the bed. His protective instinct was kicking in, this thing could mess with him all it wanted but the moment it even *tried* to mess with Patton… Well, it wasn’t going to be pretty.

Logan’s own features changed to one of shock and fear as well, yet he still seemed to follow Virgil’s lead, forcing himself to calm down and to try to be brave. “Virgil is correct. We aren’t letting you go alone. It would be unwise, we can’t risk losing two people, and it’s just illogical to let anyone be alone right now. Anyone who is alone is more than likely more at risk to get trapped or attacked.” He confirmed, and as much as Roman wanted to argue with them, he knew he couldn’t. He couldn’t let his vision come true. He needed to get to Patton.

“.. Fine. You can go to me. But only because we don’t have time for this! Now lets go, you two stay behind me at all times and don’t even think about going off on your own!” He stated, not bothering with sheathing his sword as he practically darted out of the open door, the others following as he looked around the halls, deciding on checking the fatherly traits room first.

He ran down the hall, paying close attention to the footsteps behind him as he reached the door, practically throwing it open to look around. “.. He’s not here.” He muttered, mainly to himself as he looked around the dark room. That was when it hit him. Dust, dim lights….” Guys! We need to find him NOW! This is exactly like the illusion I saw when I was trapped!” He told them quickly, watching as their features once again melted into pure fear. “…. What happened when you were trapped in the illusion, Roman..?” Logan asked, face pale. He already knew the answer. “Patton.. Patton he died..” Roman’s voice was shaking before he darted out from the room, practically shoving the two traits aside, not caring if they were following or not. “PATTON!” He screamed, opening practically every door in the hall as he looked.

He was breathing heavily, trying to catch his breath at the top of the stairs when he heard movement behind him. He whipped around, sword in hand when he saw Logan’s face inches from the blade. The logical trait jumped, stepping back. “Roman, calm down..he has to be somewhere…and if he isn’t up here he’s probably downstairs.” He spoke as evenly as he could, though Roman could tell he was afraid. He knew that tone Logan used all too well. He was terrified and he was trying not to show it. “R-Right…sorry.” He spoke softly, noting how Virgil seemed to almost be hiding behind Logan. He must have scared him. He needed to apologize properly, he knew that, but he wa more focused on trying to find Patton.

He headed downstairs, practically jumping down the last four as he checked the commons. No one was there. That was when he heard it, a soft whimpering sound coming from the kitchen. Without thinking he turned on his heel, darting towards the sound. “Patton!” He called, finally seeing the trait curled into a corner of the kitchen, hands curled into his hair and sobbing his poor little heart out. “Patton oh my goodness! Are you alright?!” He moved to his side, dropping his sword only to see the other man flinch away from him.

“Don’t..don’t touch me!” He cried, out, hands curling tighter into his hair as the other finally saw him. Virgil didn’t hesitate to push the fanciful trait back, moving to Patton’s side and speaking in a low soothing tone. “Pat..Pat it’s okay. We’re here, we got you..we won’t let anything hurt you..” He murmured softly, it broke all of their hearts to see their normally cheerful friend so broken. He whimpered, moving to cling to Virgil, head buried into the others shoulder. “See? We got you.. We won’t let anything hurt you.. Can you tell us what happened..?”

Patton forced out a nod, lifting his head so he could rub his eyes. When he moved the anxious trait froze, blood was coming from a rather deep cut on the poor traits cheek. “Patton…” He said quietly, eyes wide. He was scared for him. He was scared for everyone. What could have done this to him? Surely it wasn’t the nightmare… Patton slowly uncurled one of his fists from Virgil’s hoodie to point directly to a certain princely trait. “He… Roman happened..” the words came out as nothing more than a weak croak due to his crying, yet they still managed to shock the trio into silence.

“Roman?”


	12. New Problems Arise

“What..?” Roman asked as he saw all of their eyes turn to him. “What do you mean by that, Patton?” Virgil moved protectively to his side, automatically assuming the worst, he knew Roman wouldn’t have done anything to hurt him. But with everything going on...well, he couldn’t help but think that Roman may have done something, Of course, if Roman did do anything it had to have been an accident! With everything thats been going on, he had to trust him! “You...I-I saw you..” the words were quiet, so much so that the others could hardly hear what the poor trait was saying. Tears were practically pouring down Patton’s face, moving so he was practically clinging to Virgil. The others stayed quiet, deathly quiet. They couldn’t bring themselves to speak.  
“You..You didn’t help me,” The words were muffled by the anxious traits hoodie. Sniffing quietly before speaking again. Though this time, his voice was so quiet they couldn’t make out a single thing Patton had said. “What..? Patton, I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you,” Roman spoke, moving to kneel down in front of him, only to reel back in shock when Patton suddenly shot up. “YOU SAW ME, YOU SAW ME STRUGGLING, YOU DIDN’T HELP ME!” He yelled, a look of nothing but pure betrayal on his features. Roman ended up falling back onto the kitchen’s floor. “W-What!? Patton, its okay! What you saw was another ilusion! That wasn’t me!”  
“Roman’s right, Patton,” Logan spoke up, not moving closer, though he did get down onto the floor, “It wasn’t real...it's alright, remember the breathing technique Virgil taught us..” He was sure to mimic everyone's quiet tone. Sure, Logan wasn’t the best at social cues and all that, but within the past day or so, he definitely had learned a lot about providing comfort. Despite the fact that the other had agreed with him, Roman still moved back a bit. He didn’t want to make Patton more upset than he already was, even if he wanted answers as to what happened.  
Patton nodded, trying to follow what Logan was saying, following the exercise and slowly managing to relax a bit, his grip on his pants loosening slightly, knuckles already aching from the sheer amount of force he had put into the action. “R-right..” He mumbled, “...Sorry,” He was apologizing about the outburst he had had. He did feel really bad about yelling at Roman. After all, it was just an illusion after all...but it had felt so real! He could have sworn he had truly seen the princely traits disinterested look. The four traits descended into a temporary silence. Patton knew the question they were going to ask next. He just didn’t think he could handle it. That's when Logan spoke up. “Patton...Do you believe you can tell us what caused you to react so badly?”   
He didn’t want to answer. Patton simply just wanted to be allowed to sit in the silent room with his family for at least a little bit longer...But he couldn’t. He knew that this whole thing was insanely dangerous, and that they needed to take care of it before anything else happened. “Y-yeah...Yeah, I think so. I have to be able to after all,” he fiddled with the sleeves of his cardigan. “I was down here trying to get some food for you guys, after all, we’ve all been through so much recently..I thought it would be nice to try to get something that's at least kind of normal. Then I started smelling roses. I knew what that meant so I tried to turn around...but then things changed. I started to feel really dizzy, and the room looked all wobbly. I..I guess I passed out or something cause when I woke up I was on a stage..and everyone-everyone was laughing at me. I was so scared...they were all so mean! I tried to find a familiar face, someone I could trust, one of you...but I couldn’t. I started feeling fuzzy after that- and not the good kind either-...when...when I looked down I noticed that my legs were fading. I didn’t want to fade! I was so scared...when I looked up Roman was there...I remember he looked kind of weird. I was trying to get him to help me..but instead he just stared at me with the most disappointed look on his face before walking away...that's when I was pulled out of it.” He recalled the terrible tale, a distant yet distressed look on his features, almost on the brink of crying yet again.   
The others simply listened. It was needless to say that they were all alarmed by what had happened to Patton. And it wasn’t just because Roman’s mysterious appearance in the illusion, but also due to the fading. Fading was a death sentence for a side, Of course, it only really happened when said side was either too weak to exist, or were proven to no longer be required for the host to function properly. Logan was the first to break the heavy silence. “Wait...you said Roman looked strange in your illusion? How so?”   
Patton rubbed at his eyes in order to try to stop the tears. “H-He was darker...kinda shadowy...scary.” He mumbled, Virgil hugging him close. “You don’t need to continue talking if you don’t think you can Patton..” The anxious trait reminded him softly, tone kind, though when he looked over to the others it was clear. He didn’t want them to ask Patton anymore questions until he was calmed back down properly. So the other two sides ended up going quiet. For about five whole seconds that is. After all, the situation was dire and Roman..well, Roman needed clarification. “Scary how? I’m sorry about asking Pat, but I really need to know. If I don’t..well, I would rather not go into that.”  
The trait simply nodded slightly, turning slightly so he could look over to Roman without having to leave Virgil’s comforting grip. “It uh..It..” his voice trailed off as his face turned pale, eyes wide and staring at a spot back on the stairs. He shakily raised his arm to point.  
“That….that's him..”


	13. Is It A Knightmare?

“...Thats him,”  
The moments the words left the terrified fatherly sides mouth, the three sides whipped around, wide eyed and wanting to try to see what had terrified Patton so badly. Unfortunately though, when they turned around the only thing they got to see was what looked like Roman’s boot taking the final step to go to the stairs. Roman was the first to speak. “We have to go after him!” His first move was to summon his blade, the second was to dart after the stranger.   
Virgil was the first to move, trying to ensure that Roman didn’t go running off alone, after all, he knew what the others were thinking. And if it was Deceit, then someone would have to stay with Roman. After all, the creative side was rather vulnerable when it came to the snake’s tricky ways. “Roman wait!” He called after him, managing to catch up with him at the top of the stairs, his first instinct was to scan the area to try to ensure that there was no danger seeing none. He was anxious, of course, having realized that he had left Patton and Logan alone, but he knew that they could handle their own in case anything was to have happened. “Roman, are you okay? Did you see where he went?”  
“No..” Roman responded, confusion evident in the prince’s tone. “I ran up here after him, but he was gone, it was like he was never here at all! We need to get the others and go after him, Deceit needs to be somewhere around here and I do not plan on letting that bastard get away!” Virgil had to step back in surprise, he had seen his fellow trait get aggressive before, but he had never seen him this upset. “Roman, you need to calm down,” He spoke, “you can’t just run off without thinking about this first. We need to go and get the others, yeah, but we need to all talk about this first, we don’t know if this is Deceit after all..I mean, I know Deceit loves the whole ‘evil’ thing, but you know even he probably wouldn’t do all of this. He knows better. Hell, you like him the most out of all of us.”  
Roman turned to face him, shooting a glare at the anxious trait. “Oh please, Virgil, I may trust him most the time, but he hasn’t showed his face even once since all of this started! He must be the culprit!” He snapped at him, grip tightening on his sword.Yet he let it relax once he saw the anxious look written across the other traits face. He hadn’t really snapped at Virgil like this since he had thought of him as nothing more than a villain. “..I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I just..I can’t just let this thing terrify my family much longer! Whatever it is has been hurting you all so much, and I know its my fault, so I have to stop it.” He did his best to take on a calm tone.   
Virgil stared at him for a moment before sighing, running his hand through his hair, “its...its fine, Princey, we just need to talk about this, we’ll figure out what we need to do, and we will beat this thing, alright?” Roman seemed to relax just a bit more at Virgil’s words, though he certainly was still tense. And that was okay, they were all on edge after all. They all needed to be.”I..Yeah. I guess that's okay. Lets just go talk to them alri-...do you smell that?” He asked suddenly, cutting himself off when he smelled the scent of roses and sulfur. The telltale sign of the knightmare being close by.  
“..We need to run.”


	14. Deceit?

“We need to run,”

The two sides darted down the stairs, quick to try to get to them just in case the nightmare was trying to get any of them, not willing to let that beast get to their friends, not willing to let them go through any more pain. They moved to go to the two, who were still sitting on the kitchen floor. Patton was leaning against the logical trait while Logan ever so gently running his fingers through his hair. Though they could tell that Logan felt awkward when it came to providing comfort, they could tell that he was trying, and that the two of them were fine.  
Virgil and Roman were only snapped out of their thoughts when Patton saw them and spoke up in a tired, yet worried voice which made the two realize how much this had been affecting them, and suddenly, they were wondering if they were denying how much it affected them too. “..Are you guys okay?” His voice was quiet before he spoke up again, though this time it was fearful. “Is..Is it the nightmare again? Is it back?”   
“We don’t know..” Roman spoke softly, shifting to sit beside the others on the hard tiled floor of the kitchen,wrapping an arm around Logan. “What do you mean?” Logan spoke up, looking between the two traits, his voice was noticeably tight with worry and fear. Two things that they had never really heard from him. “Considering the situation we don’t really have time for anything even close to an ‘I don’t know’!”   
Virgil glanced away, a bit thrown off by his tone, though he certainly understood where he was coming from. He was scared of something happening again. “Well...we thought it was coming after you, at least it seemed like it..but I guess it's not? I mean, I can’t smell it anymore down here,” Virgil explained to them, leaning against the counter as he joined them. “I don’t get why it would be upstairs, I mean...isn’t this thing always hungry or something?” He questioned him with a frown.   
“No, its hungry most of the time..I would say it probably got its fill off of Patton’s fear from earlier, either way, I think we’re probably fine for the time being, I know that I won’t let anything happen to you,” He spoke, forcing a reassuring tone to his voice as he leaned against Logan, proving a nice, comforting weight, watching as Virgil joined their little cuddle pile on the floor to try to ensure that they all got a little bit of peace before they went back to doing what they could to get rid of the nightmare.   
The four remained like that for a while, in an unspoken agreement to keep silent. After all, Roman was fairly sure that none of them had rested well the night before, so they all most certainly needed it. Besides, it was rare for them to have moments like this. Moments without any arguments or without being busy or scared...it was wonderful. Unfortunately however, they were pulled out of their wonderful little moment by a severe reminder of what was going on when they heard a terrified scream, and there was only one side it could have come from.

 

Deceit.


	15. Help

“We need to help him!” Patton spoke, his automatic reaction being that they needed to assist Deceit, after all, he was a fellow side, and by default, that made him family. “What!? Patton, are you crazy!? This could be a trap! Hell, knowing him, that’s definitely what it is!” Roman spoke up quickly, sticking out an arm to ensure that Patton wouldn’t try to run up the stairs and to the snake sides room. He understood that Patton was worried, and he understood that he wanted to try to help, but he didn’t want the fluffball of the group to end up getting hurt, he had practically just gotten out of one of the nightmares traps! Why was he so eager to jump into another one of them!?  
“I’m sorry Patton, but I’m afraid I really must side with Roman on this matter,” Logan nodded, he was clearly shaken up by the scream, but he was doing his best to act like he was clear headed and that he was doing okay. “We can’t have anyone going up there, especially alone, it would be bad for all of us if you got yourself in another one of those illusions. I don’t want you getting hurt.” He explained to him, though he did feel a pinch of guilt in his chest as Patton’s face fell, upset that they clearly didn’t want him to help Deceit. For a moment, he thought it would stay that way, after all, it often did. 

But it didn’t, after merely a moment of that crestfallen expression, Patton’s face hardened with a determined look. “No! I’m sorry, but I can’t just leave him alone through this!” He snapped at them, “I understand that you guys are worried but dammit, you guys made me leave Virgil alone when he was panicking, and he was scared and all alone, and now Deceit is like that too, and I’m not letting you guys stop me again! I’m not making that same mistake, even if it is another illusion, I’m going to push past it, Deceit may not be the nicest guy, but he’s still a side, and that still makes him family!” He moved to push past the three of them, darting up the stairs, leaving the other three sides with dumbfounded looks on their faces.

Now Virgil was indeed shocked by the fact that they had actually heard him panicking back then, and a little hurt that they had stopped Patton from going to comfort him,but he pushed those thoughts aside for now, he didn’t like Deceit, there was no question about that, but he knew that Patton was right, that they did indeed need to help him…besides, he didn’t want to leave Patton alone up there. “Virgil we-” Roman began to speak only to be cut off by the darker trait. “Princey, I know what your going to say and I’m going to stop you right there. That doesn’t matter right now, thats in the past. Right now we need to help Patton,” He told him, a slight urgent tone to his voice as he moved to follow the fatherly trait up the stairs and back to Deceit’s room.

The other two traits were quick to follow, Logan recognized that they needed to go and help, and he knew Roman was probably confused on the whole matter, but their family needed to come first, Patton needed to come first. He ran after Virgil, staying on his heels as he rounded the corner to Deceits room, worry for their friends showing in their eyes as they saw Deceit on the ground, his eyes having that same clouded over look as all of the other times someone had been trapped in an illusion, Patton and Virgil kneeling next to him. Patton was speaking in soothing tones, doing his best to guide his fellow trait out of whatever nightmare he was experiencing as Virgil kept an eye to ensure that Deceit was doing alright, even firmly holding his hand to provide physical support, and for the first time in a long time, Logan had no idea what to do, or how to help.


	16. Stepping Up

The snake-like traits body would have been writhing on the floor if it wasn’t for his muscles being so stiff, Patton was holding his head in his lap, running his fingers through his hair, even Virgil was murmuring soft words of comfort, they both knew what it was life to go through this, and they would be damned if they let Deceit go through it alone. 

Roman definitely did regret blaming him, or at least, most of him did. A part of him still remained suspicious, not wanting to trust him, thinking that he was faking it. But, most of him knew it was real. At this point, he could recognize how stiff his muscles were, and that look of terror on his face. Hell, he had practically memorized it. He knew that Deceit truly was trapped in the nightmares Illusion. Yet somehow, after he managed to get past those thoughts,he still didn’t more. He still didn’t go check on his fellow side. He didn’t think he should…hell, he didn’t think he could move if he had wanted too. He didn’t want Deceit to feel crowded when he first came- to, and it seemed Logan had the same idea.

The logical trait stayed near Roman for the time being, though, unlike the princely trait, he had remembered to close and stay by the door. Just in case the nightmare would try to sweep in and force them all through another illusion. Or at least that was what he told himself. He truly had no idea what the nightmare was capable of. He didn’t know if it could pull multiple people into its trap yet, he didn’t know if it could get into the vents. He just…didn’t know. And that was enough to get Logan to feel inadequate, not just that though, the trait was afraid. But, he simply swallowed that fear, just like he always did. Though this time he did it to ensure that it wouldn’t be him who drew the creature back to them, to try to ensure that it wouldn’t be his fault. 

It took quite some time for Deceit to come back to reality fully, it had felt like an eternity, yet it had only been two hours. But it had still been longer than it had for the others. Deceit gasped, hands clutching at his chest with a choked sob, it was the first time any of them had seen Deceit cry. Nevertheless, Patton’s paternal instincts still kicked in, moving to hug him close to his chest in the most comforting hug he could possibly do the moment the dark trait had managed to life a weak hand up to him, a silent plea for some sort of comfort.

Practically the moment Patton’s arms were around him, Deceit was hugging him back in this tight hug, So desperate that one may think that he had never gotten a proper hug in a long time, sobbing into Patton’s chest. Whatever he had been through, it had been hell. Virgil pulled his hands back when Deceit clung onto Patton, knowing better than to get between Deceit and his main source of comfort, Roman and Logan did step closer to the pair, taking care in order to step softly and slowly, Logan moving to sit on the floor and pulling Logan with him so they would look like as little of a threat as possible. He knew that they had never been the nicest to Deceit-to be fair the other trait hadn’t been very nice to them either. But now they knew they needed to be there for him. Because like it or not, Deceit was another side, that meant he was family.

That meant they needed to take care of him too.


	17. Seeing Red

It had taken him longer than he would like to admit, but either way, Roman found himself moving over to the others sides without thinking, kneeling down close nearby. “...Will he be alright?” He spoke, uncharacteristically quiet. It was safe to say that the prince was indeed scared for the deceitful trait. And that he felt bad. After all, he had been so adamant about believing that Deceit was behind it all just a little while before.   
However, what happened next made it all so much worse. At nothing more than the sound of his voice, Deceit coward, clutching at Patton’s shirt so tightly that his knuckles turned white, shaking so much all over again. “NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!” The scream that left his throat was full of pure terror, trying to scramble backwards and trying to hide from his fellow trait. His fear had Roman quickly standing up, moving to step back more than a few paces to put up his hands. “Deceit...its okay, I’m not here to hurt you, I promise,” He spoke, this made two times that this thing had made his fellow sides afraid of him. Two times that they looked at him with such fear. And he was fairly sure it was starting to take a toll on him, but no matter what he still kept his thoughts to himself, just trying to focus on making Deceit feel better.   
It took quite a few more than just a few comforting words to get him to calm down, and even then he wouldn’t allow Roman anywhere near him, so while the others spoke, he was stuck with his back against the door, more than ten feet away from his friends, only able to listen to their conversation. Apparently Deceit had just been resting in his room before this imposter came in, he had seen Roman try to kill him, and he had heard the princely trait curse at him, yell countless insults and more. Now, the real Roman certainly didn’t blame him for being afraid, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t feel so awful. Those same, recurring thoughts coming up into his head again. Deceit was terrified of him and it was all his fault, they had each seen countless horrors, and it was all his fault. Everything that was happening was his fault. And he knew it was only a matter of time before they blamed him too. And he wouldn’t even be upset at them for it. He knew that he deserved it all.  
Later that night when they were all curled up into Deceit’s room, he realized something. He saw how Patton and Deceit would scoot closer together whenever he came even close to them. He saw how every so often they would glance to him, as if they were checking that he was staying where he was. He saw them look at him with fear. And it hurt a lot more than it should have. The very people he tried to protect, and the person he should have been protecting were looking at him with such fear. And he grew angry. Not with them of course, but with himself. He hated himself for all of this. He hated himself for everything.   
He hated himself for bullying Virgil, he hated himself for upsetting Logan, he hated himself for not being good enough, but most importantly, he hated himself for letting this happen. For letting his family get hurt and become so fearful of him. He had always viewed himself as the prince and the protector for all of them. But now? Now he just saw himself as a monster. He stared at the carpet as the others slept, his hands balled up into fists and his nails nearly cutting into his skin.   
He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t realize that familiar black mist drifting through the vent. He didn’t even notice the smell until it was too late. His eyes snapped up as the mist started to take a hold of Logan, not lifting him, simply moving to infect him, wrapping itself up around him to set up yet another trap. And Roman? Roman saw red.


	18. Chapter 18

Roman saw red.

He moved to climb to his feet, his hand on his sword as he moved to shift to Logan’s side, still somehow trying to be careful as to not wake the others. The beast didn’t seem to notice him. He knew how to end this. He could finally save them! He could finally, finally do something right for once! He could help them and provide for them all yet again! He quietly removed his sword from its sheath, finding himself daydreaming of how he would be a hero again. How this could finally be a new start for him and how they would all be able to live in peace again.   
He had moved to raise the blade above his head to stab the beast when it happened. It disappeared, and Logan woke up with a start. The logical trait quickly sat up, his eyes locking onto Roman. Or more specifically, his blade. And they had such fear in them. So much fear, and it was all directed at him. It was more than enough to make Roman pause. And the sight of Roman, sword posed to kill, was more than enough for Logan to scream.  
Logan’s scream pulled Roman out of his trance just in time to see the trait scrambling back, and just in time to feel someone tackle him, his blade falling to the side as he was pressed to the floor by a black and purple blur. Pain went through him like shockwaves at the sudden impact. “LET ME GO!” HE screamed, struggling to try to get away. He needed to go hunt down the Nightmare! Did none of them see it!? “I NEED TO KILL IT! I could END THIS! I could SAVE YOU!” He found himself yelling, while he did understand that he needed to calm down, somehow, he couldn’t do it. He just knew he could finally end this! He knew he could finally bring peace back to the mind scape! He struggled against the others grip, unable to make out anything the others were saying, though he could get out bits and pieces, and he could see Logan trying to control his breathing in the corner as Patton tried to guide him through a panic attack.   
“Roman! Calm down!” Virgil snapped, “What the fuck were you doing!? You could have killed him!” That wasn’t true! He wouldn’t have killed Logan! He would have killed the creature and put an end to it all! Though it did take just a minute...Roman did find himself remembering the exact moment. He had been partially right. He had been in the perfect position to kill the nightmare, but he had also been in the perfect position to kill Logan too. If he had done it, if he had succeeded, then he would have killed Logan too. When that realization came to him, he went limp, finding himself simply staring at both the blade and at Logan. He had always thought that only the nightmare was the threat, that only the nightmare could hurt anyone here, but...he almost killed his friend. His eyes stung with tears as he finally felt Virgil get off of him. But he didn’t move, at least, not right away, He eventually forced himself to his feet, retreating back to the door.  
His eyes were frozen on the group in front of them. Virgil glaring at him as he held the other three traits. Each and every one of them was in shock, but none more than Logan. The trait who normally tried to hold back on his emotions was very clearly close to bawling into the protective traits chest, desperately trying to control his breathing. “Get out,” The word was spoken softly by Virgil, though it seemed to echo around the room. And as much as Roman wanted to stay, he obeyed, quickly leaving the room. He hardly made it to the living room before he broke down, collapsing down to the carpet and just letting himself cry.


End file.
